More Than Tolerable
by purrpickle
Summary: Ray Berry was short. Looking down her nose at him, Santana sneered. "I don't date Oompa-Loompas. Or losers." But that changes quickly. Turns out Ray's not the worst guy, and he's certainly a good beard, and eventually Santana and her boyfriend are pretty good friends. Good enough friends that help each other with who they want. M/f Pezberry with endgame f/f Santina and m/m Samchel.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **I don't own Glee nor the characters within. This first chapter, the prologue, was previously published in Scraps as a stand-alone piece (an anon wanted genderswap!Rachel), but the plot that came to me after I posted it wouldn't leave me be, so here we are.

Be aware this starts out as m/f Pezberry but will eventually end up with f/f Santina and m/m Samchel. Thanks.

* * *

Ray Berry was short. Looking down her nose at him, Santana sneered. "I don't date Oompa-Loompas. Or losers."

The boy's smile didn't slip. "I'm two inches taller than you, Santana." He slipped his hands into his back pockets, shrugging confidently, "And as an accomplished leading man and new quarterback of the football team, I am not a loser."

"You're the new quarterback?" Santana's eyebrows snapped up, her eyes sweeping up and down Ray's body. Suddenly, he wasn't looking so loser-ish. He did have nice broad shoulders and decent biceps, and the longer she looked at him, he was surprisingly handsome. Maybe she could work with the big nose and slight height.

Ray smirked, shaking his head as he turned away to his locker, pulling a new letterman jacket out. "As of yesterday. So," he looked back at her as he pulled it on, "Think about it. Even if you only start contemplating dating me due to my new social status, I am confident my natural charms will pull you in the rest of the way."

Well wasn't he cocky? Santana smirked. "I'm not that easy, dwarf boy." Starting past him, giving him a simple flirty look under her eyelashes, she laughed to herself at how easily red rose on his olive skin.

Ray Berry, huh? Santana never would have considered the uber-gleek before, even if she had to admit he was a damn good singer and had spades of talent; she'd even, honestly, after his relationship with Tina had ended during winter break, thought the guy might have been gay. So either he wasn't or he wanted Santana as his beard, and honestly, at this point, Santana didn't care. As the new quarterback, he'd be _her _perfect beard.

Besides. Santana turned on her heel. Studying Ray from down the hall, she tilted her head, eyes narrowing. Something told her he wouldn't be pushy about starting a physical relationship.

Maybe he _would _be perfect.


	2. Chapter 1

After two weeks, Santana was almost ready to give her answer. Though she could have probably agreed at the end of the first day, she had been interested in seeing just how far Ray Berry was going to go to seal the deal. But by the end of the first week, it had taken her another week just to wrap her mind around the fact that Ray was for real. Because aside from the normal hanging out at her locker and holding her books as she strutted from class to class, as well as being flattering and showing off for her at football games, he also sang for her in Glee, took her out to lunch and paid for the most expensive things without complaining or expecting any reward – seriously, not even so much as trying to cop a feel or kiss her or make her go down on him – and instead of trying to force his arm around her like some Neanderthal brute and posture that she was his even before they were official, he only touched her in normal communication, his hand barely sliding down her back if he wanted to pass or lead her somewhere, and barely touching her arm if he wanted her attention or made a point. It was so different than how normal calloused hands touched her that she almost didn't believe he was real, or attracted to her, or even into girls, which had to be true if he wasn't into her.

If Santana wasn't a raging closeted lesbian, she knew she would've been more annoyed than the slight feeling of insult her ego made her feel anyway, especially since when Cohenberry was a thing, neither Tina nor Ray had been particularly subtle in how physical they got on a regular basis. And though Santana could give the younger girl some credit for being better than passable, she was no Santana. Not even close.

So what gave? Was Ray _actually _this… Gentlemanly? God knows she never paid attention to him beyond sizing him up at the beginning of every year to see if he'd gone up in popularity, not to mention height, and, okay, a couple of times when he sang because even she had to admit he had an amazing voice, but still. Even if she wanted to use him for her own needs, it didn't mean she wanted to be played in return. Santana was the player, not the playee.

So, on a mission, Santana sought out the still single Tina. Finding her at her locker, she sauntered up to her, drawling, "Gothnic Vampirella."

Tina furrowed her brow. "Isn't that overkill?" she asked, pulling out a textbook and curling it into the crook of her gloved arm.

"Not if you're as awesome as I am." Smirking, Santana's eyes drifted up and down Tina's body, mentally comparing it to her own before sliding into actual checking out before she caught herself. Stop that. Lezzing out could wait until she was _away _from school, and better yet, away from anyone else. Especially those who knew her. Making it look like she had been studying her nails, Santana schooled her features before meeting Tina's gaze again. "Girl Chang, it's time you and me had some girl talk."

Tina shut her locker. "About what?" She frowned, taking a step back enough to shift her weight onto her heels, away from Santana.

Rolling her eyes, Santana smiled humorlessly at her. "Oh cut the crap," she crossed her arms, "Like you haven't noticed your ex finally came to his senses and started sniffing around me."

Something flickered in Tina's eyes, and her frown deepened. "So?"

"_So_…" Santana drew it out, quirking her eyebrow, "What the hell is his deal?"

Tina's face scrunched in a comical confused expression, "What…?" before slowly fading into a slight smile. "Oh. I get it. Yeah," she shrugged, her dark brown eyes softening, "He can be a bit intense. A nice intense, but I guess you're not used to that, are you?"

"Does it matter if I am or not?" Santana practically snarled in response, rolling her eyes; moving in closer, she hissed, lowering her voice as she glanced around the hallway to make sure no one was paying attention to them, "Look, all's I'm asking is if he's for true."

Tina gave her an unimpressed look, all the sympathy she'd been displaying passing. "Santana," she shook her head decisively while taking a step back, "Ask him yourself. I need to get to class."

Santana scoffed. "I was already _going _to," she called back as Tina took off down the hall, uncrossing her arms. That was completely unhelpful. "Vamp-Bitch better watch herself," she muttered, a little miffed at how the Rent-a-Goth had just walked away from her, and decided to move the girl up her list of who to screw with next.

But first, she had somewhere to be and something to do.

Timing it so she reached the boys' locker room just as the mostly showered (Santana gave Greg Dorman a disgusted look and skirted a wide path around him while holding her breath, _Jesus_) football team poured out the door, Santana zeroed in on Ray. The new quarterback, dark hair still damp against his forehead and letterman jacket thrown over his shoulder, exchanged a high five with Sam, laughing about something. He hadn't seen her yet.

Santana smirked. Perfect. It meant he wouldn't have time to react.

And she did _so_ love getting the jump on people.

Striding up to Ray, pleased as his teammates automatically moved out of her way – one of the best perks of being a Cheerio definitely being the fear and respect it got her; definitely kept the most annoying and pushy Neanderthals separated far enough from her – Santana curled her hand around her decided boyfriend's shoulder, turned him around, and, girding her loins as she cupped her other hand around the back of his head, drew him in for a hard claiming kiss, pouring all of her practice and talent into it.

"Pick me up tonight at seven," she told him as she pulled back, desperately trying not to think how soft his lips were and how nice he smelled compared to a lot of the other boys she'd kissed, though filed that away for another plus in her "Ray's use as her beard" column anyway. It also wasn't so bad not having to stand up on her toes or yank down on the boy she was kissing to make it happen. Maybe his unimpressive height was another plus, too, after all.

Ray stared down at her, licking his lips as Sam and Mike and various other Titans hooted around them, his strong hands perched lightly on her hips. Then, blinking, his mouth creased into a smile and he nodded, and though Santana expected another kiss on the mouth when he moved in, he bypassed it completely to brush his lips against her cheek instead. "Looking forward to it."

Dammit. If Santana wasn't strictly chickly, she'd probably find this – and _Ray_ – enjoyable. As it was, however, he was more than tolerable.

Hopefully that wouldn't change the longer they were in their relationship, or the longer Santana used him.


End file.
